West Papua borders the independent nation of Papua New Guinea and forms
the western half of the world's second largest island. West Papua became
the twenty-sixth province of Indonesia in 1969 after the so-called "Act
of Free Choice", sponsored by the UN, saw the transfer of official
administration from The Netherlands, the colonial power, to Indonesia.
The province was in 1973 re-named Irian Jaya, "Victorious Irian", by the
Indonesian President, General Soeharto. The indigenous movement rejects
this name and identify themselves as West Papuan. Resistance to
Indonesia had begun in 1962 when temporary authority was first given to
Jakarta, and continues to the present.
Over the twenty six years that
Indonesia has held official control of West Papua, the indigenous population
has endured one of the twentieth century's most repressive and unjust
systems of colonial occupation. An on-going war has been fought against
a popularly supported indigenous movement opposed to Jakarta's rule, and
against members of the civilian population who stand in the way of
Indonesian "development". An escalation in killings recently, especially
around the massive Freeport copper and gold mine in the central highlands,
has been widely reported in the Australian and international media.
The
indigenous people of West Papua are of the same ethnic origin as those in
the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and are also related ethnically
and culturally to other Melanesian peoples of the Pacific. Yet under the
Indonesian government's Transmigration program, the indigenous West Papuans
are being reduced to a minority population due to an annual influx of over
10,000 families of sponsored migrants from Java and Sulawesi and an unknown
number of "spontaneous" migrants. The widespread appropriation of land for
new settlements, forestry concessions, mining projects and farming has led to
numerous large-scale conflicts between the Indonesian military and dispossessed
tribespeople, particularly in the late 1970s, 1984, and again in 1990-92 and
1994-95.
Indonesia does not regard the West Papuan people (or other communities)
as indigenous and subordinates adat (traditional) law to the national interest.
This denies a fundamental feature of West Papuan life and identity, viz
relationship with the land, leaves the West Papuan people fundamentally
defenceless in the face of development and transmigration policies, and
absolves Indonesia of any obligations under international instruments and mechanisms.

"The Charter of the United
Nations, the International
Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights
and the International
Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights affirm
the fundamental importance
of the right of
self-determination of all
peoples, by virtue of
which they freely
determine their political
status and freely pursue
their economic,
social and cultural
development."

Draft Declaration on
the Rights
of Indigenous People,
The United Nations
Commission on Human
Rights